Tokusatsu Review: Kamen Rider Final Form Top 18 Update Mugen Damashi: Break out the Adam West Eyecon

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In Memory of Adam West the Original Tv Batman
Sep 19 1928-Jun 9 2017 Sleep well, old chum.

 This year has been a rather turbulent one for many reasons. But those discussions will be saved for remissions at the end of the year as per tradition. Though the most recent reason as of this article is of course the passing of Adam West. Now I first knew of him as the first Tv Batman and the mayor of Quahog on Family Guy but his impact on nerd and just culture in general cannot be stated by me. So I will direct you to Moviebob's tribute to the man right here so that you can at least get a more experienced perspective of Adam's contribution to Batman and pop culture.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bGorziAQJLg

 If I may be so bold I would like to channel what little I know of his take on the character and give a bit of a soliloquy as Adam West's Batman. "I know our time together was far too short my friends, but do not despair, though I may be gone the world keeps on turning. Times may be dark but there will be your fellow man to show you the light and help to pull you out of the pit. If not your friends, then your family, if not them then perhaps a kind hearted stranger on the street it does not matter. For you see; hope, love and justice shall always find a way if one never stops looking. Be of good cheer and keep your spirits and heads high chums."

 But speaking of tradition and on to less depressing material it's time once again for the debut of the final form for this years Kamen Rider. This time it's Ex-Aids Muteki Gamer Lv 100.

Well aside from it looking very pointy there's another detail that's unavoidable about this form.

 But as of writing this article I have absolutely no idea what this form is supposed to do. We already know Maximum Gamer Lv 99 can reprogram Bugsters so for all I know this form can let Emu turn Bugsters into rice pudding or something. Aside from that Ex-Aid itself has been proving to be an exceptional Rider series with lots of good character focus and development (for the most part, Kagami is a dumbass btw) and doing so with very few, recurring monsters. Though if you think I may be a bit biased because Ex-Aid is video game themed, well you may be right but but it dosen't matter how good, bad or ugly the themes of a series is if the writing can't carry it through. Case in point what's left of the trash of 2016 White Lantern Takeru Sato aka Kamen Rider Ghost Mugen Damashi.

Once again this form looks like the Metallic Armor from MMPR Season 3 mixed with the White Lantern outfit.

 Ghost was a very sad and troubled production; it started off interestingly enough with the first quarter but as it went on the writing just kept on getting worse and worse with Takeru constantly dying and being revived more times then the cast of Dragon Ball to gain new forms. On top of that the show had the reset button slammed on his 99 days to get the Eyecons thing. Then Mugen was supposed to debut and everything went completely down the tubes. All of which can be attributed to the Japanese Dan Didio himself Shinichiro Shirakura, on top of cutting Ghost's funding in half for Kamen Rider Amazons he apparently pulled the head writer away, leaving only the two secondary writers to write nothing but filler episodes after Mugen premiered until he came back for the final arc since he didn't leave them any notes of how the story should progress and the stalling was painfully obvious.

 On top of that the powers of Mugen are barely explained or addressed. From what we see in the show it's apparently supposed to channel the power of raw emotion but in practice it just switches on Ghost's god mode. Every single fight with Mugen is a curb stomp, either Ghost is delivering the curb stomps or it's getting spanked like nobody's business. Not to mention these powers facilitate the episodes having to reestablish Takeru's connections to the Luminary Eyecons to get a different flavor of unimpressive finisher and life lesson that he should have learned 5000 times before this. In my opinion a Rider's Final form encapsulates the overall condition of the show if the form is badly designed, has defined and poorly explained powers and has a rushed and shoddy introduction then that seems like a sign that the creators and therefore the show just doesn't care.

 I hate Mugen Damashi for not only just the reasons listed above but for the potential that was clearly squandered and misused. Ghost could have been a great series and the first quarter showed potential but as it went on it just got worse and worse and that is a true shame. So I'm putting Mugen right between Hibiki Armed (the other notable Kamen Rider Production Shirakura fucked with, not a coincidence I assure you) and Ryuki Survive.

#18 Hibiki Armed
#17 Ghost Mugen Damashi
#16 Ryuki Survive
#15 Agito Shining
#14 Decade Complete
#13 Stronger Charge Up
#12 Fourze Cosmic States
#11 Faiz Blaster
#10 Drive Type Tridoron
#9 Wizard Infinity Style
#8 Kabuto Hyper Form
#7 Blade King Form
#6 Ultimate Kuuga
#5 W/Double Cyclone Joker Xtreme
#4 OOO Putotyra Combo
#3 Den-O Liner Form
#2 Gaim Kiwami Arms

#1 Kiva Emperor Form

 Ex-Aid in the meantime still has a way to go before we get to the next Rider Series. So far Ex-Aid has definitely made up for Ghost and hopefully Muteki Gamer will not disappoint. As for my next Tokusatsu review I'll give you all some hints. One it has 5 (technically 4 1/2) Riders in it and Two, IT'S BETTER THEN PIXELS!!!! But there's also one more thing to address here, HAPPY THIRD YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.

Batman (1960) is owned by DC Comics, Greenway Productions, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros Television Distribution.
Kamen Rider is owned by Ishinomori Productions, Toei Productions, and Bandai.
Austin Powers: Goldmember is owned by Gratitude International, Team Todd, Moving Pictures, and New Line Cinema.